Lights and Sirens
by SomeCrazyDude1113
Summary: On the night the floating garden fell and Alucard emerged upon Minato Murai, the city was said to have been evacuated. However not all escaped the calamity in time. Stuck amidst the chaos was an ambulance crew attempting to save the lives a few remaining stragglers and escape the warring monsters. This is the story of crew 1076.
1. Prologue

**Authors Notes:**

The following work contains instances and accountings based an real medical calls and true stories. Though they have been modified for the story the central nature of the calls along with the actual pain and suffering exhibited remain intact.

 **Education**

Though this work strives to be as medically accurate as possible, it's main purpose is to entertain first and foremost. So for the sake of drama not all scenarios will be depicted exactly how it would go down. At the end of the chapters I'll put in a segment called, Fantasy vs Reality in which I'll talk about what would actually happen on scene.

 **Misc.**

I won't state I don't own the rights because declaring such things does not protect you from any legal recourse and if anything is only a confession of guilt that is in the form of a written statement. If it was not lawful to write fanfics about Rosario then the website would not have a Rosario section to begin with because FFN needs consent from the creators to allow it.

 **Final shoutouts.**

Thanks to my instructors who work tirelessly to produce only the finest candidates for EMT certification.

To current and former co workers who assisted me with my studies and assessments to better prepare me for what may come.

My family who have supported me in all my endeavors.

Finally my brother, if not for him I never would have made this career choice.

 **Rosario + Vampire created by Akihisa Ikeda**

 **Dedicated to all the brave men and women of the first responder field.**

* * *

 **Prologue**

 _"_ ** _I will honor the physical and judicial laws of God and Man."_**

Above the skyscrapers of Minato Murai stood the great monstrosity known as Alucard, whose might and malice tumbled structures and left them as ruble before his feet. His conquest did not go unchallenged, for the two dark lords were prepared to meet him and from there a massive showdown ensued.

They fought as titans bringing unbearable destruction in their wake, casting down buildings and tearing up the city. Unbeknownst to the powerful creatures another battle was ensuing. Through the falling debris a small white box bolted through the streets.

" ** _Which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of patients and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, nor shall I suggest any such counsel."_**

It was an ambulance of all things, torn and damaged, impaled and beaten down. The engine roared and the tires swerved to avoid immenent doom as the driver and crew members were shouting harsh exchanges during this moment of high alarm. For one jot of miscalculation would bring certain death.

The ambulance did not just carry this crew of three, there was also a motionless man laying on the stretcher whose head was covered in bloody bandages, a chest dotted with EKG patches and exhibiting faltering vitals.

" ** _Into whatever homes I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of only the sick and injured, never revealing what I see or hear in the lives of men."_**

The driver was accompanied by a pre teen sitting shotgun who covered her eyes and begged for her life and the life of the patients during the chaos.

Lastly a young pregnant woman, splinted and immobilized to the bench began screaming for mercy from on high. The crewman tending to her made attempts to keep her calm while administering both physical and supportive care.

" ** _I will serve unselfishly and continuously in order to help make a better world for all mankind."_**

The beasts dueled, the structures fell and the ambulance fought for every second to survive. The medics provided intervention after intervention while being swung to and fro by the vehicle's inertia.

" ** _While I continue to keep this oath unviolated, may it be granted to me to enjoy life. Should I trespass or violate this oath, may the reverse be my lot."_**

Yet despite their efforts to ensure survival, the situation became all but hopeless when the pregnant girl lost consciousness, the injured man's heart stopped and the great beast Alucard had them cut off.

" ** _So help me God…"_**

 ** _-The EMT Oath_**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **A Day in the Life**

 _Earlier that morning_

"Everything is going to be okay Kayda!" a teacher reassured a five year old girl who was in a dire situation. Roughly five minutes ago when out on the playground her ability to draw breath was suddenly subdued. They brought her to one of the tables and had her sit down in hopes that some rest would quell her dyspnea.

Another caretaker at the preschool was rummaging through the girl's backpack and yelled, "I found it!" while holding up an asthma inhaler.

"Quick Aiko bring it here!"

She delivered it hastily to the suffering girl who inhaled it with a labored draw.

"Did that help?" asked the teacher of Kayda who only gasped and wheezed while shaking her head in a panic.

"Oh my God her lips are turning blue, what are we going to do?" shrieked Aiko.

The Janitor called out, "Ambulance is on it's way!"  
"Ok, did you get ahold of her parents?"

"Yeah, Mom will be here soon."

Kayda started coughing harder and showing signs of fatigue \\.

"Should we give her more?" asked Aiko concerning the inhaler.

"I don't know is it possible to overdose on that stuff?"

"I'm not sure."

Tears were coming down the girl's eyes while the other children watched with curiosity and nervousness. Things were taking an even worse turn when she stuck her swollen tongue out.

"She's getting worse!"  
That's when the faint sound of sirens could be heard echoing off in the distance bringing some relief to the stressed out adults.

"I can hear them coming!" gasped the teacher.

Soon after, a set of flashing lights came down the road and parked just outside the entrance of the schoolyard gate. Three men, ranging in age and experience, disembarked, pulled out the stretcher and walked to where the huddling masses could be seen.

Aiko ran up to them while going off hysterically, "Thank God you're here! She's having some kind of asthma attack and it's the worst it's ever been! Nothing we've done is helping! She can't breathe!"

The one in the lead, an older, well seasoned individual with a shaved head and mustache inquired, "Were is she?"

"Just over there, please you must do something!"

She began crowding them in by which medic requested, "Ma'am stay calm, give us some room and let us take over."

The Janitor got between them and herded Aiko off while the teacher, being calm yet agitated said, "I've got her here. I'm not sure what it is."

The medic took a knee and introduced himself, "Hi there little one, my name is Hiro, can you tell me what's going on?"

The girl sputtered, "Can't…Breathe…!"

"Ok stay calm, we're going to do everything we can to fix that." he reassured.

One of the other medics was getting the monitor hooked up to obtain her vitals while Hiro auscultated her lung sounds with his stethoscope. Wheezing in the lower quadrants, swollen tongue and flushed skin; this was no asthma attack.

The one working the monitor read off the vitals, "Blood Pressure is 64 over 58, pulse is 158 and she's sating at 84%."

"Tensin,' addressed Hiro, 'open the drug bag, get me the Epi 1 to 1 and Diphenhydramine."

"You think it's anaphylaxis?" responded Tensin who figured the diagnosis as well.

"Yeah,' then seeing the other one standing there doing nothing, gave instruction while a bit annoyed, 'Hey Sitoshi, can you get her on oxygen while I get the Epi shot ready?"

The young man went to the girl with a portable oxygen tank, hooked it up to a pediatric sized non rebreather then asked, "How many liters?"

"Fifteen." said Tensin.

He opened up the O2 regulator allowing supplemental oxygen to be administered to the suffocating girl. Hiro filled a syringe with epinephrine, pushed some out to rid the solution of any air bubbles, held onto Kayda's leg and said, "Ok there's gonna be a quick pinch but this will help."

The needle stuck into her medial thigh and injected. She winced a little, being too weak to make a grander complaint, but in a moments time her wheezing stopped, the swelling went down, the color to her face and lips returned and the girl, though frightened, was drawing in breath again!

She began crying and the teacher held her for comfort while Tensin handed Sitoshi a bag of saline that was hooked up to a drip set and coached, "Just hold this up like so while I get the needle in."

"No more shots!" whined Kayda when seeing him prepare a 24g needle. Tensin, though not particularly good with children, said, "Hold still this is to help you feel better."

He tied the brachial artery off with a rubber band and had her pump her fist a few times. Upon finding a vein he sent the needle in, got flash and advanced the catheter. Hooking it up to the drip set he handed it off to Hiro who had a dosage of Diphenhydramine ready for IV administration.

The teacher, while watching, asked, "So what are you doing now?"

Hiro explained, "So what you just saw here wasn't an asthma attack, it was a severe allergic reaction."

"Oh god…' sighed the teacher, 'is she going to be alright?"

"That's what were working for,' responded Hiro, 'we gave her a shot of epinephrine which helped open up her airway, and this is Benadryl to help keep her from relapsing."

After pushing it through, he looked to Sitoshi, who was again standing idle and told him, "Hey can you get me her vitals again?"

He bent over and had the monitor re run it's diagnostics on their patient, while Hiro asked, "When was the last time she ate?"

"We got done with lunch about five minutes ago."

"What did she have?"

Rolling her eyes to recollect, the teacher answered, "Long noodles and vegetables I think. Her tray is over there."

Tensin took a look and reported, "Smells like it was cooked in some kind of nut oil."

"Is she allergic to nuts?" asked Hiro of the teacher.

"Not that I know of," she said while stroking the girl's hair then noticed an anomaly on the back of her neck, "Kayda, did you get stung by a bee?"

"Hmm, hmm." she whimpered.

Hiro took a look, and saw a a swollen bump on the back of her neck and scrapped the stinger out with a credit card.

"Are her parents on the way?"

"Yes her Mom should be here soon."

As soon as it was spoken a car pulled in with it's driver fleeing from the door without even turning the engine off. Despite the situation being put back under control it was a mother's job to worry especially at the sight of an ambulance and her little one wearing a non rebreather. Coming in and hugging her child she consoled her and asked of the medics, "What happened?"

"It was an allergic reaction." said Tensin.

"But Kayda doesn't have any allergies."

"Has she been stung by a bee before?"

"Not that I know of."

"Nut allergy?"

"I don't think so."

Hiro then took charge, "Ma'am she's still at an age where a food allergy can develop and she's never been stung before. I think we should take her to the hospital to make sure she's in the clear and to possibly have some blood work done to be sure."

"Yeah, let's do that."

"What hospital do you want to take her to?"

"Minato regional."

They helped Kayda and her mother climb into the back and let her sit in her mother's lap with Hiro and Sitoshi, Tensin got into the driver's seat and said over his radio, "Dispatch this is unit 1076, we're en route to Minato regional."

Kayda was nervous as any child and adult would be, but couldn't help but be enthralled with experience she was having. During this time when Hiro was filling out his patient care report the mother was asking him questions.

"So the teachers told me it was an asthma attack. What's the difference?"

Looking up from his tablet he answered, "Her tongue and upper airway were swollen, asthma normally doesn't present with that."

"No I mean, what causes the two?"

Laughing Hiro said, "Oh sorry, asthma is when your bronchial tubes constrict via spasms and such."

"And allergies?"

"An allergic reaction is caused when your immune system over responds to a substance by producing too much histamine. Causing hands, throat and tongue to swell, sometimes people will break out into hives, it all depends on their reaction level. In Kayda's case, her throat was swelling up which is why her inhaler didn't work, because albuterol dilates the bronchioles not the throat."

"So what did you give her to reverse it?"

"Epinephrine and then Benadryl."

"Why both?"

"So Epi is just adrenaline which we'll use when they're having a really hard time breathing. Basically you're counteracting the immune system with the nervous system. Adrenaline however wears off in time and if the histamine is still in her system she'll just go back into anaphylactic shock. Benadryl is a histamine blocker but takes longer to take effect."

"So you used Epi to open the airway immediately then Benadryl to be sure she wouldn't swell up again?"

"More or less."

"Wow you guys are smart. How long have you been doing this?"

Continuing to fill out the report Hiro said, "About forty years, in fact this is my last shift, I'm retiring."

"That's amazing!' then to Sitoshi who was monitoring Kayda's vitals, she asked, "How about you?"

Bashfully the young man said, "This is actually my first shift as a medic."

"So you're like brand, brand new?"

"Yeah."

Expressing her gratitudes she replied, "Well regardless, thank you guys so much for taking care of our little one."

"Think nothing of it,' said Hiro, 'it's what we're here for."

He then took his phone and auto dialed the hospital they were taking them to, "Hey this is Ambulance 1076 from Isha medical, we're coming in with a five year old female patient suffering from anaphylactic shock. We gave her epinephrine and Diphenhydramine and on fifteen mml of oxygen, her blood pressure is 88 over 52, pulse is 112, respiratory rate approximately 34 breathes a minute while sating at 98%. Patient has a history of asthma and is on an inhaler, her mother is with us and currently is unaware of any allergies. She did have food with nuts in it and was stung by a bee, both instances about five minutes before the onset. She appears to be stable, we'll call if anything changes. ETA about five minutes."

 _"_ _Thank you I'll let them know and we'll have a room ready for her when you get here."_

Unit 76 pulled into the ambulance zone just a few moments before Hiro's estimate at Minato regional, they allowed Kayda's mother to carry her in. One of the nurses from behind the desk looked up and asked, "Is this your allergic reaction?"

Hiro answered, "Yes, were will you have us take her?"

"We have room 207 ready on the west wing."

Kayda was carried in and placed on the bed to where the nurses began putting her on their monitors. Hiro was handed the face sheet with the call information on it. While he began looking it over the doctor walked in.

"Well who do we have here?" he introduced with kindly charm.

"This is Kayda she had a bit of an allergic reaction at school today."

"Oh no that's no fun is it?"

The little girl nodded as Hiro turned to one of his cohorts and instructed, "Tensin go ahead and hand off the report, Sitoshi come with me."

The two went out as Tensin filled the staff in on all the details. Hiro grabbed a clean set of linens for their stretcher but this was not the primary reason for pulling Sitoshi out in private.

Once secluded he turned to face him, "Okay let's talk about that call."

Sitoshi nodded nervously, "Sure…"

"I know it's your first shift and all, but I can't have you just sitting around waiting for me or Tensin to tell you to do something when the patient needs help."

"I just…"

Taking a deep breath Hiro spoke a little kinder but with authority, "I know it's scary, especially when you have a little kid who can't breathe. I understand that _deer in the headlights_ feeling and I don't expect you to know everything right off the bat. However I do expect you to try."

"I just don't want to screw it up."

"You're not going to screw up, me and Tensin won't let you. We're here to help you succeed but we can't do that if you don't take initiative. For instance, when you have a patient who can't breathe, getting them on oxygen should be a given. Next time don't just sit and wait, see what we're doing, see something that could be done within your scope and do it."

"Okay, I'll do better next time."

Hiro shook his hand and smiled, "Sounds good, don't take it too hard, learn from this and improve. There will be more calls in the future so let's keep at it."

The patient care report was handed off and they joined Tensin in the break room were medics could sit, have a snack and reflect before another call came in. The television was going while Hiro and Tensin were swapping stories and having a good laugh with Sitoshi chuckling as well. After ten minutes of rumination they decided to return back to the station.

As they got to the unit their radio buzzed, _"Unit 76 what's your location?"_

Tensin answered, "Minato regional."

 _"_ _Good stay there."_

They paused a moment then confirmed, "Copy that, posting at Minato regional."

"What's going on?" asked Sitoshi.

"We know about as much as you do." replied Tensin.

They got out and waited near the front door, when another unit from their station arrived and were greeted by another crew.

"Itzuki, what's going on?" asked Tensin.

"You didn't hear?"

"No dispatch just told us to wait here."

"They're evacuating Minato Murai."

"Whoa shit, for real."

"Yeah, they're calling in other ambulances to transfer patients to hospitals outside of the region."

Hiro interjected, "Whose evacuating and for why?"  
"I know about as much as you, however we saw some military vehicles on the outskirts on the way over here."

Just then a nurse approached them and asked aloud, "Is there anyone here who is ELST certified?"

Hiro raised his hand in which she responded, "Oh good can you guys come with me?"

They pushed their stretcher along and followed her who informed, "So you may have heard we're evacuating Minato Murai and we have to move all our patients to another hospital. We have a ninety two year old male, terminal with malignant cancer, his family has decided that they'd like him to finish out the remainder of his life at home. He needs to be on life support and you're the only ones here right now qualified to move him."

They were brought into a room where a senile and decrepit elderly man lay on life support appearing only inches from death's door. Sitoshi looked upon him with that harrowing reminder to his own mortality. They moved him over to their stretcher, hooked him up to their monitor and vent circuit while the nurse fetched the address and other details regarding his care. The old man did not open his eyes, he only wheezed with frail indignation and awaited his final moment to come.

The nurse returned with a folder and handed it to Hiro who looked it over as the other two wheeled the patient to their unit. Giving a sharp whistle he told Tensin, "We have a long day ahead of us."

"Why's that?"

"Looks like it's out in Saitama."

"I'll let dispatch know we're on an LDT then." (Long Distance Travel.)

They got him loaded into the back and Hiro was instructing Sitoshi on the process of a transport.

"So get his vitals and write down what they are before we leave, we'll check them every fifteen minutes then one final time before we drop him off."

While Sitoshi was doing that, Tensin was coordinating with dispatch on their destination and which routes they should take. Despite the commotion causing many of the main roads to become congested with civilian traffic there were roads reserved specifically for emergency vehicles and military personnel.

Hiro began flipping through the file then sighed, "I wish the nurse would have told us this…"

"What is it?" asked Sitoshi.

"He has a valid DNR issued by his family." (Do Not Resuscitate)

"So if he codes, we don't do anything?"

"Except record and report and strictly provide supportive care." said Hiro who then pulled out the EKG's and put the patient on a 12 lead then issued a command on the monitor to print out the electro cardiogram and gave it a look over.

"Judging by these sinus rhythms, he just might code on the way to Saitama." Their bodies lurched as 76 began pulling out. When they were on a main road heading north Tensin called back, "Hey you guys should look out the driver's side."

They peered out the port and saw a series of tanks and jeeps driving past them. They both looked up and saw a formation of jets flying overhead.

"Whatever's going on, it must be serious." commented Hiro.

When on the highway the elderly man opened his eyes and began looking around. He motioned for Sitoshi to come closer so he could tell him something.

The new hire leaned in and put his ear to his mouth while Hiro watched and monitored his vitals. Sitoshi then nodded and, "Yes you are welcome."

"What did he want?"

"To thank us for all the good work that we do."

The senile began speaking once more and Sitoshi listened.

"Really, I'm so sorry to hear that. Is that how you got cancer?"

He looked to Hiro and informed, "He said that he was exposed to radiation as a young man and he had been in and out for cancer most of his life, this time his family decided to call it because he's too weak for chemotherapy."

"Ask him what happened?"

The old man whispered and Sitoshi's demeanor changed entirely, "It happened August of 1945…when he was living in Nagasaki as a boy."

Hiro let out a respectful sigh, "The manhattan project?"

"He won't say but I can't think of anyone anywhere else at that time being exposed to radiation."

The rest of the drive was uneventful, Sitoshi would retake vitals every fifteen minutes. He'd have a talk with the old man when he was awake about things inconsequential. And when he slept he would talk with Hiro to further his effectiveness. Dusk had already settled by the time they dropped him off to his family in Saitama. They were extremely grateful and offered tips in exchange for their service, but Hiro declined them, saying it was a pleasure in and of itself.

They stopped by a gas station for fuel then hit a fast food restaurant for a quick bite to eat before heading back to operations. It was a long drive back and before long, Sitoshi was asleep on the bench while Hiro rode in the passenger seat with Tensin. It was eerily calm as the two watched a stable horizon overlaying a base of zipping asphalt while lightly bouncing here and there.

Hiro was texting his wife and eagerly awaiting a response on his phone and when he got one Tensin asked, "Is that Nana?"

"Yeah, I wanted to make sure her and the girls got out okay. I wonder how this evacuation is going to affect my brother's flight."

"He's flying out?"

Snickering he replied, "Yeah, I actually wasn't supposed to know what they were doing for my retirement party. The girls wanted to surprise me but when they coordinated it they accidentally added me in the group text."

"Oh geez.' laughed the driver, who, overcome by melancholy said, 'I should check up on Kimiko, make sure her and the kids are alright."

"I figured after she won full custody you wouldn't want to speak to her ever again."

Sighing a reprieved nod, Tensin said, "Look, I'm not that heartless."

"Not that faithful either." replied Hiro sternly.

Shaking his head he retorted, "God what's the big deal with that anyway? I mean yeah I should of waited until everything was finalized before I put myself back on the market again but it's not like I was allowed at home anyway. For fuck's sake it was like practically being divorced anyway!"

"The big deal was, that you didn't respect her or your marriage long enough to wait until it went through. In the end it's the same as cheating."

"Jesus Hiro, are you going to start being my marriage councilor too?"

"No, I'm trying to be your friend, and I'm not the friend who's going to tell you what you want to hear. Face it, you two didn't love each other enough to be so considerate in the end."

"Easy to say for a guy whose made it work for, God knows how long."

"Hey, things weren't always easy between me and Nana. I've spent my nights on the couch too, but in the end what brought us back together was the fact we both knew we were right for each other. I don't think you and Kimiko had the same thing going."

"Maybe you're right…" he consented then continued on in silence for another five minutes.

He broke the silence by asking, "So, happy to be retiring?"

"It feels weird, like I don't know what I'm going to do with myself after this."

"Didn't Nana give you the honey list?"

Checking the window while flaring his nostrils in an obscure chortle HIro said quietly, "Yeah she did, it makes me feel old."

He then leaned back and fixed his gaze on the dome and said to fortify his bewilderment on the matter, "I keep looking back and can't imagine it all; where I've been, what I've done, what I've seen."

Tensin scrunched his lips then asked respectfully, "What was the worst call you've ever taken?"

Hiro hunched forward, "That's a tough one, anything involving kids really. I don't know, what comes to mind when you're asked that?"

Tensin decided to be the first, "Whenever people ask me that, my mind goes to a call right when I became a level two. I was working out in some rural area on the grave shift when we were called to what sounded like a rollover. But when we got on scene the car looked like it had been dropped from outer space. I mean the front end and engine were crushed into the interior, and there was not a single panel that wasn't crumbled nor was there a window that wasn't shattered."

"Sounds like one hell of a roll over."

"Turns out it was a head on collision with an oil truck, but the trucker took off and the police were out looking for him. The one in the driver's seat, or what was left of him, had the steering wheel clean through his face, his eyes were hanging out while has chest was smashed to a pulp by the dash board. The passenger had her leg practically wrapped around her back, her face was split in two like a venus fly trap to where I could actually see her skull.

At first I was like, ' _damn these motherfuckers are dead_ ,' then we heard the most chilling sound anyone could ever hear and me and my partner nearly shit ourselves. The passenger started moaning… to our terror she was still alive. We looked at each other not having a single clue where to start. We called in for an extrication team and tried to suction her airway and intubate but it was hopeless. She then tried to tell me something. At first she sounded like an alien talking under water but then I could make it out. She was trying to say, 'Baby.'

I looked in the back seat and saw a carseat with the engine block resting on it and blood soaking the seat. I walked away, I wouldn't dare look at it because I knew what remained of her baby was crushed under that thing. I stayed in the ambulance until the extrication team arrived but by the time they got her out she was dead. I cried myself to sleep that night and my partner quit the following weak, I don't think she ever got over it."

Hiro nodded then decided to share a story of his own, "That reminds me of a call I went on that was definitely my worst now that I think about it. It was actually when I first started back when I was nineteen. So we get a call for a woman who claimed she had just gone into labor. When we arrived at the apartment we find this seventeen year old kid going frantic and bleeding out like crazy. We wasted no time, we got her loaded and were going lights and sirens to the hospital. When getting information from her we come to find out she'd only been twenty weeks pregnant."

"Oh no…" said Tensin.

"She kept asking us if everything was alright and I tried my best to keep her calm but I knew what was happening. She wasn't laboring, she was miscarrying. We got ahold of her boyfriend and he agreed to meet us at there. While waiting outside the ICU we heard the doctor talking to the _would be_ mother saying that babies born short of twenty three weeks don't survive even in an incubator. Then he asked if they would like to hold their baby girl before she died once delivered. The girl screamed 'no' but the boyfriend said 'yes.' Later when the baby was delivered I could see them talking about how beautiful their little girl looked, the girlfriend cried and hugged her like I had never seen. Two minutes later she died. But that's wasn't the worst part."

"Oh?"

"No the worst part was when her boyfriend came out of the ICU, thanked us for all that we did and went to shake my hand."

"Shit, what do you say after all that?"

"I said nothing, I only stared at him for what felt like an eternity, shook his hand and left. Like I said, anything involving kids are always rough no matter what."

Noticing Tensin's perturbed silence, Hiro followed, "BUT, there've been more good calls than bad and that's what we work for."

As Tensin took the exit back to Tokyo he informed, "So we're not heading back to operations, there's a green zone outside Minato and that's where we'll post until whatever this thing is blows over."

"You know who else will be there?"

"From the sounds of it a lot of citizens and emergency personnel."

"I hope they have beds because I could sure use one."

That would have to wait when the radio came on, _"Dispatch to ten seventy-six_

Hiro answered, "Seventy six copies."

 _"_ _What's your twenty?"_

Checking the mile markers he answered, "About forty clicks outside Tokyo."

 _"_ _We have another transport at Minaoto Regional."_

"Copy, Seventy Six en route for IFT." then after cutting communications said,"I hate transports…"

They took their exit which would take them to their destination the fastest. Right as the hospital was in view Sitoshi was coming out of his slumber. "Wake up, princess." called the driver.

As they were nearing the hospital dispatch came back on, _"Dispatch to ten seventy-six."_

"Go for seventy six."

 _"_ _Cancel transport."_

"Copy that."

"Goddammit." cursed Tensin.

As they were detouring through the empty streets towards the green zone a sudden shadow overtook the entire landscape, at first they mistook it for a cloud blotting out the full moon but not a single nimbus dotted the starry sky.

"What the hell is that?" stammered Hiro with shock and confusion.

The rig came to a complete stop so they could have a closer look. What they saw appeared to be an enormous platform with enough square footage to support a small city dropping from the sky. In fact the descending structure resembled that of Mont Saint-Michel of France.

"You guys are seeing this right?" trembled Sitoshi.

"Yeah, kind of wish I wasn't." said Tensin.

"What is it, some kind of flying fortress?"

Hiro then said with alarm, "Whatever it is, it's making a crash landing!"

That's when the others realized the structure was reducing altitude rapidly with no signs of decelerating.

"Get us out of here Tensin!"

He threw it in reverse, hit the gas and swung the front end around throwing Sitoshi against the other side. The tires squealed, let out smoke, caught traction and shot forth. The engine roared like never before, throwing supplies off the shelves as they drove for their very lives.

A rumble shook the pavement before a massive shock wave jumped the unit. Slamming down, Tensin checked his side mirror, saw the fortress buried half way into the city skyline, then beheld a massive cloud of debris, combined with all rummaged fortifications rushing towards them and gaining ground.

He downshifted and accelerated. Sitoshi let out a yell when a piece of a metal support beam had come down and transfixed into the roof of the box. Getting pelted with flying chunks of concrete, a couple of which shot through the back windows to where Sitoshi was laying down and covering his head, Tensin took a hard right when seeing a parking center and made way for it.

Before 76 was off the main road it was overtaken by the cloud and disappeared within the veil of dust and debris.

* * *

 **Fantasy Vs. Reality**

 **-When Hiro reprimands Sitoshi for not putting Kayda on oxygen that's actually more his fault. He's the senior medic who runs the call. In most cases if a patient is having trouble breathing oxygen is the first thing we put them on unless there's something more serious like severe, uncontrolled bleeding or the heart's stopped etc.**

 **-A more appropriate course of action would have been to put Kayda in the ambulance before you administer drugs. This way your scene is more controlled and away from curious onlookers.**

 **-DNR's are real, they're essentially legal documents issued by power of attorney prohibiting any lifesaving interventions by medical staff should the patient fall into arrest. Usually after quality of life examinations and such. So yes, had the old man's heart stopped they let him die.**

 **-Divorce rates are high among EMS workers along with PTSD, anxiety and depression. What separates EMT's from nurses and doctors is what we see. In the hospital you have a patient packaged and delivered with bystanders stopped at the lobby. We see the drama. I've seen the hysterical mother trying to talk to police officers about the vehicle that ran over her child with sisters crying and begging for us to save their little brother. I've seen angry fathers of heroin addicts threaten to kill their sons if they find out they were shooting up again. I've had to clean the brains off of the stretcher seat belts of a teenage suicide victim after grieving parents said he excused himself to his room saying he'd be doing homework and 'bang!'**

 **We see the immediate aftermath of tragedy and we have to build mental walls and essentially numb ourselves to it, and it can impact personal life. Tensin is someone who did not have his attitude before he went in the field, but developed this personalty overtime as a shield to protect himself.**

 **-ELST stand for Emergency Life Saving Technician, the Japanese equivalent to the Paramedic. The tiers below it are Level one and two. In the west the EMS tiers are, EMR, EMT, A-EMT and Paramedic. There can also be field doctors as well but that depends on state and or country.**

 **-Hospital transports suck.**

 **-The stories Tensin and Hiro were sharing are real calls but not that I went on. Tensin's story was based on a call a friend of mine took with the differences being mom survived but baby didn't. And Hiro's was actually a call my brother went on when he was new. Not much of the story was different it essentially happened that way.**

 **-It would have been more likely for the military to evacuate any hospital stragglers that late in the day.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Mass Casualty Incident**

The green zone spoken of, was a set up of thronging multitudes, mobile command units and multiple medical tents. Among the waiting bystanders was Hiro's wife, Nana, who was eyeing the emergency vehicles pulling in and nervously awaiting her husband's unit. She, like everyone else, had witnessed the crash of the floating garden from afar and were in a sate of understandable panic.

"Mrs. Uwasaki?" said a strange voice behind her.

Turning to face him she answered, "Yes?"

Bowing at her the man informed, "I'm Hideo Nirasaki, one of the field supervisors who oversees your husband when he's on duty."

"Yes, have you heard from him?"

"I think it's best that you come with me." he replied with unsettling sternest that rattled her fibers. She was then promptly lead to the mobile command center where two other women were already seated.

Nana recognized one of them, "Kimiko. How are you?"

Nodding lightly she said, "I'm doing well, considering…"

The youngest of the three blurted out, "What's this all about!?"

"I'm sorry but who are you?" requested Nana.

Kimiko introduced her, "This is Ayane, she's engaged to the new hire Tensin and Hiro are training."

"Speaking of." interjected Nana.

Nirasaki composed himself in a way that denotes both professionalism and melancholy and informed, "As you know, there has been a city wide evacuation of Minato Murai just before this great tragedy has occurred."

"Do we know what's going on?" asked Kimiko.

"No that's for the military to sort out."

"I think it's terrorism! Maybe it's North Korea!" expressed Ayane, who was very much distraught.

"You really think the NKA or anyone has the ability to drop a city on a city?!" shot back Kimiko.

The two of them began to go at it while Nana rested her brow upon her hand. The medical director then called for their attention, "Ladies please!" They snapped back to attention as he went on, "As you know we were coordinating our ambulances to transport patients from the local hospitals to other facilities. There was one we dispatched to Minato regional but our dispatcher made an error and didn't cancel them in time and all we know is that the ambulance was in the city when the destruction happened. The reason I'm telling you this is because Hiro, Tensin and Sitoshi were the ones assigned to that unit."

A pang shot through Nana's heart that descended all the way down her core.

"Th-the city is burning!' protested Ayane in despair, 'and you left them there!"

"Please, we're doing everything we can to establish contact and bring them home safely."

"Do their radios not work?" asked Nana.

"We don't know. We haven't been able to make contact with them." returned the supervisor.

This remark did nothing for Ayane's nerves as she irately let out her anguish, "Sitoshi can't die, he's too good to die! Where's the dispatcher who put him there? Why haven't you sent anyone after him!?"

She nearly started throwing things when Kimiko got up, apologized for her actions and took her out. Nana arose as well when Nirasaki gave one last remark, "Mrs. Uwasaki again I want you to know we are doing everything in our power to make sure your husband comes back safely."

Nana, being more of the self contained type, bowed and exited. She found Kimiko supporting Ayane who was haunched over and sobbing uncontrollably in her hands.

"Hey." Nana called to get her attention.

Once their eyes met she said with profound reassuring confidence, "If those men somehow got stuck on the moon, my Hiro would find a way to get them back."

There was a sudden shriek among the spectators in which the ladies turned their attention to the source of the outcry. Among the dust and debris floating afar off, emerged something so grand and terrible they had all nearly fainted.

…

Meanwhile when the thicket of dust was still enveloping the air, 1076 sat idle within the parking center; impaled and shattered, but still standing.

Fortunately the crew within were moving about and waiting. Hiro called back in the box, "Sitoshi are you alright?"

"Not really, my head is bleeding, I think…"

"You know where the gauze is?"

"…Yeah…."

"Good, use it."

Tensin picked up the radio, "Seventy-six to Dispatch do you copy…? Dispatch?"

Hiro checked the dials on the module, shook his head then got out and wiped the dust away from the air. Assessing the whole unit he said, "Tensin you need to see this."

The driver got out and joined his partner. The unit was not only suffering from an impaled roof by the severed support beam but also the passenger side mirror was hanging by its cord, the bumper was drooping from the mainframe and the rear windows were spider webbed. Atop all this there were numerous upon numerous dents dotting the body.

Hiro opened the box and got in to check on Sitoshi while Tensin suddenly rushed to the module when hearing the dispatcher call in, " _Ambulance 1076, come in….Ambulance 1076 do you copy?_ "

Snatching the microphone up he began talking into it, "This is seventy six, over."

" _Ambulance 1076, please come in._ "

"Dispatch this is seventy six do you copy? Over."

Throwing the mic down he yelled back, "Shit! Hiro, we're receiving but not transmitting."

He joined them in the box which was in complete disarray. Supplies and equipment had been thrown from their designated areas and left strewn all over the floor. Hiro was wrapping Sitoshi's head wound and said when Tensin entered, "I checked the communications box, that re bar spit a few wires, which is probably why we're having issues with the radio."

"How's the new kid?"

"I'll live…" grumbled the rookie.

When finished dressing, Hiro instructed, "Ok let's get this thing cleaned up and see if we can find a way out."

Picking up some supplies from off the ground Tensin asked, "What the fuck happened out there?"

"I don't know, other than that was probably the reason why we evacuated Minato Murai."

Just then Hiro heard his phone vibrating in the cab, he dashed out and found it on the floor but to his dismay the screen was so cracked it could not display information nor respond to any input when his finger tapped it.

He went back to the box and asked, "Any of you guys got your phones? I think Nana is trying to get ahold of me. God she must be worried sick."

Sitoshi shoo, his head, "I left mine in my locker back at the station."

"Why the hell would you do that!" caromed Tensin.

"Well policy says that we're not supposed to have them on shift and I didn't want to get in trouble on my first day."

"Lot of good that's doing you now…"

"Forget it,' interjected Hiro, 'what about you?"

Tensin began checking his pockets but came up empty handed, "Oh goddammit! I think I left it in the break room of the hospital when we dropped off Kayda!"

"Alright, I guess will have to tell them we're alive and well in person." remarked Hiro while organizing the box.

As Tensin picked up the monitor he cursed, "If only they fucking cancelled the call sooner!" then slammed it down.

"Hey!" scolded Hiro with regard for the equipment.

"Oh what? This piece of shit is already beat to hell!"

Stretching forth his hand to calm him, he said, "Yes but if we loose our nerve now then we'll be back to square one."

"And what is that?!" irately ranted Tensin.

"Figuring out how to stay alive!" Hiro, though usually collected, had rarely descended to the tyrannical pits of rage and irrationality, however whenever he did get angry, it would put the room on pause.

Sitoshi then noticed a peculiar entity out the port hole, "What are those?" he asked while arising and making an exit. They followed him out and beheld against the pallor of the full moon, tiny orbs floating downward in animation.

"Are those….giant soap bubbles?" asked Tensin.

"Looks like people are inside of them too."

"Damn, this day just keeps getting weirder."

All of them in that instant felt a sudden tremor rumble beneath their feet.

"Earthquake?"

Hiro began backing up, "If it is then a parking complex is not the place to be."

"Guys look!" pointed Sitoshi in fear and awe.

Through the blanket of smoke and burning buildings, figures began emerging. Tendrils longer and larger than any cable upon a suspension bridge whipped forth, crushing and felling many buildings to the earth in the process. The force behind the destruction emerged and came forth. Among the fire and flames was an unspeakable monster whose tendrils were attached to its back.

"The fuck is that thing!?" wheezed a sanity questioning Tensin.

"I have no idea…monsters. aliens, demons?"

Tensin, suddenly stricken with the fear of the wrath of God, said, "This is it, this is the rapture or the apocalypse or something."

Hiro, pale but always observing and thinking, responded, "Whatever this is, the military had to have known it would be coming."

"What and they wouldn't tell us?" protested Sitoshi.

"That's government for you." sighed Tensin.

Hiro began backing up, "Boys whatever that thing is, it's walking this way…"

The monstrosity was set on a path straight towards the parking center they took refuge in, which would soon become their tombs in a matter of moments as Alucard pushed aside furthering structures along his way towards them.

They bolted to the unit and jumped in but as Tensin was turning the keys, the engine was not turning over. "C'mon, C'mon!" it kept cranking with no results.

"Tensin!" yelled Hiro when seeing the monster drawing nearer.

The engine continued to crank while he yelled, "If you don't turn over you fucking bitch you'll be put out of your misery!"

The engine suddenly flared on and he accelerated out with ungovernable haste.

"Try and get us somewhere safe!"

"Working on it!"

Once cleared of the exit, the parking structures burden resigned under the weight of Alucard's stride.

"It's coming down!"

Tensin accelerated and swerved past falling debris and got clear as the building made a partial collapse, with some of it's remaining weight being supported by its neighbor. Sitoshi, when watching through the back window, saw their near scrape with death, sat back and nearly let his bowels loose.

The engine began lugging again in which the driver informed, "Hang on, I'm going to pull over and take a look."

They were well enough hidden away for Tensin to pull off and cut the engine. He popped the hood and assessed the cause of it's inability to perform. Hiro quitted the box along with Sitoshi and watched the monster tear up the horizon. Observing Tensin tinkering with the engine components, the rookie could not help but ask, "Can he fix the rig?"

Hiro answered for him, "That's how he got hired on with Isha medical, we didn't need any techs at the moment but they were hiring for mechanics."

"Oh, I didn't know he was a mechanic."

Tensin, overhearing them, said, "Yep, I inherited my dad's pickup and I had to learn how to keep it running when growing up in a rural area. Spent most if not all my teenage years working as a grease monkey at a mom and pop garage at the end of town. "

"What made you go into the medical field?"

"Didn't feel like I was making much of a difference for people, so I learned how to work on a different type of machine, the human body."

"I see…"

"Speaking of seeing,' interjected Hiro, 'You need to see what's going on right now."

Sitoshi focused his vision upward towards the head of the monster and squinted, "Are those…men…floating by the monster?"

At this time the beast was stationary with two individuals floating near its head and apparently conversing.

"I can't tell, one of them looks like a white nun."

Tensin came around to have a look, "Well there's something you don't see every day."

Hiro noticed Tensin was holding something and inquired what it was.

Holding it up he replied, "The air filter, I'm going to shake it out and clean it up. I'm hoping it's just mucking up the intake manifold."

As he began beating the dust free from its fibers, their attention was called to a slight rumble heading down the road. Looking on, they beheld a legion of tanks traveling in a convoy towards the monstrosity. Sitoshi clapped and cheered as they rolled on by then became more ecstatic when a squadron of F-15J eagles soared overhead.

Tensin replaced the filter, turned the engine over which started right up but had a rough idle.

They got in and headed down the road navigating through the rubble and crumbled fortifications. Hiro and Sitoshi kept tabs on what was transpiring by watching the conflict between the gaps of passing buildings. That's when a large rumble and tangerine glimmer took to the air.

"Hey they got it!"

"What's going on?" inquired Tensin, peering forward and back.

"The jets and tanks are beating that thing back and it looks like it's fallen down!"

"Did they kill it?"

"Looks that way."

"Thank God."

Suddenly, within the curtails of the darkness, an obstruction dotted the middle of the road taking Tensin by alarm, who came to a complete stop.

"Why are we stopping?" asked Hiro.

"Someone is flagging us down."

"Wait, like a person?"

"Yeah."

The individual, a young girl, pitched with dirt and cuts all over, ran to the driver side window with tears running down her eyes while pleading, "Please, you have to help us!"  
"What are you doing here, didn't you evacuate?" asked Tensin.

"It's my family, they're trapped!"

"But why are they still here?"

"My stupid dad didn't think the evacuation was real and it wasn't until all this started happening that he decided to take me and my big sister away, but our car got into an accident and I don't know what to do for them!"

Sitoshi leaned up and asked through the window, "How bad are they?"

Hiro pulled him back with a scolding look.

The girl went on, "My dad is groaning and bleeding really bad, and my sister is pregnant and she can't sit up…I don't know what to do!"

There was some brief debate of consideration until Hiro took this moment to call a quick meeting and requested Tensin to roll up his window for a moment.

"Ok,' started Hiro, 'I know we have some people who were left behind, but we need to consider our protocols right now."  
"What do you mean?" trembled Sitoshi.

Tensin responded with that rationality that must prevail in situations such as this, "Scene safety. And right now, we need to consider our safety first over theirs. We're not even equipped for something like this."

The rookie protested, "Can't we just load them up and transport?"

"We don't even know where they are, or how close they are to the battle."

"But we can't just abandon people who need help, isn't that what we're here for?"

"Sithoshi,' remarked Hiro, 'But what good does it do anyone if we're killed in the process?"

"Besides,' said Tensin, 'the military is here, they have the resources and training for things like this. Let's take the girl with us, drop her off at a military checkpoint and she can send someone for her family that way."

The girl suddenly cupped her mouth and screamed in terror while pointing in the direction of the battle. They watched in silent dismay as Alucard recovered, whipped forth his tendrils and smote the warbirds from the sky then turned his fury upon the tanks in equal measure. Explosion by explosion their hearts sank at the sight of the caliber of their resistance crumble to dust in the updraft.

Tensin looked back upon the duo who were wrapped up in the mantles of ethics, protocol and melancholy.

"Looks like we're all that's left for them now." sighed Sitoshi.

There was nothing but silence coming from the end of their superior who closed his eyes and meditated. Breathing heavily he commanded both gently and forcefully, "Tensin, have her show us where her family is."

"You can't be serious!"

"Look we don't have to go, we shouldn't even be going; even though we can't make the difference all, right now we can make the difference for one."

"I'm in." declared Sitoshi.

Looking to the other, Hiro coaxed, "We can get them loaded up and rolling out in five minutes tops."

Tensin mumbled and fidgeted, pulled out a cigarette and began to light it, "Yeah I know we're not supposed to smoke in here, but fuck it!"

Taking a draw he rolled down his window and yelled to the girl, "Get in and show us where they are."

* * *

 **Fantasy Vs. Reality**

 **-Dispatch errors do occur, but a blunder like that one is a bit of a stretch. It could happen but the worst dispatch info I've gotten was a call stating a patient was unconscious and choking on blood which sent us and state troopers screaming to the scene only to find it was a guy who passed out and his lip was bleeding. Other than that dispatch is normally pretty stellar depending on where you live.**

 **-There was probably a lot more going on with that engine than the intake manifold.**

 **-Sitoshi probably would have been a lot more hurt than that. Believe it or not, but the back of an ambulance is the most dangerous place for us because we're not buckled in save the patient and the things that can fly off the shelves could kill you with one hit.**

 **-I know it sounds noble to save people trapped in a car with a monster roaming about but the answer is still NO! Scene safety and personal safety come before all. But if they adhered to policy there wouldn't have been much of a story.**

 **-Normally we carry personal radios too but it'd be real hard to write that one off as well.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **The Golden Hour**

Unit 1076 moved swiftly down the road, piloted by the directions of Mizu (as the girl eventually introduced herself) whose pounding excitement was manifest through her quivering voice, trembling hands and overall personification of panic.

The crew members dealt with their nerves in their own way; Tensin took long draws from his cigarette while tapping the steering column unendingly, Sitoshi positioned his head in his hands near his knees and shook his leg while Hiro breathed deeply, closed his eyes and meditated.

Most harrowing of all was that Mizu's directions were taking them closer and closer to Alucard, who at the moment, was dormant while the two supernatural beings were still positioned above his shoulder.

"Turn right up here!" she pointed.

76's headlights rounded the corner and set its beams upon a wrecked vehicle smashed head on into a large piece of rubble from what looked like a corner stone off a damaged building. From what Tensin could imagine, the stone piece fell right in front of the vehicle's path as it was driving away at high speeds.

After parking nearby they disembarked and, having been familiar with these scenarios, retrieved their needed supplies and equipment in advance and ran them up with the stretcher with Hiro assessing the vehicle first.

The driver, Mizu's father, who she identified as Hideki, was slouched against the back rest, localizing pain at his chest, bleeding profusely from his forehead and groaning unbearably. Hiro shined his light in to have a better look then noticed a peculiar break in the steering column.

Gathering all of the visual evidence combined with tenured wisdom he concluded as thus; the driver was not wearing his seat belt when the head on collision occurred which thrusted him forward with enough force to break the steering column with his chest, bend over the dash board and strike the windshield with the top of his head which filleted the flesh from his skull when he fell back.

Hiro's index of suspicion lead him to logically assume these likely inflictions; whiplash, coup counter coup (brain striking the front and back ends of the skull), chest trauma, internal bleeding, spinal injuries, ruptured internal organs and brain damage.

Tensin, in the meantime looked in the back and found the elder sister of Mizu laying lengthwise across the backseat adopting a position of comfort, heavily pregnant with her hands on her face and lamenting terribly. Though it was a positive sign for a patient to make such complaints, indicating a patent airway and higher levels of consciousness, he noticed one leg was shorter than the other, signifying a broken femur bone which possibly could have transferred damage to the pelvis.

All these structures are high vascular areas.

Sitoshi was about to enter the vehicle but Hiro stopped him by saying, "Hold on, the airbags haven't deployed."

"Don't worry I'm on it." responded Tensin who was able to get an arm under the mangled hood and disconnect the battery.

After that, Hiro requested Tensin's help to retrieve the driver, who required the most attention. His breathing was labored, each response to a question was an unnatural moan of distress, his eyes rarely opened and he would require the most stabilization before transport.

Sitoshi had his shears in hand, reassured Mizu's sister, who revealed herself to be Sakura, to stay calm as he cut her pant leg from the hem to the waist revealing an obvious deformity of her right thigh.

Sakura, understandably in immense discomfort, also complained that any attempt to sit up right shot pain throughout the rest of her body. With permission, he palpated her lower sections at the hips. The sound of crepitus combined with her sudden vexations upon doing so indicated a broken pelvis.

The picture was finally painted in his mind. She was also unrestrained in the fast moving vehicle and, when it impacted, sent her knees slamming into the back of the front seat putting the stress on her lower appendicular skeleton, breaking one femur, which in turn transferred up to the hip joints, cracking and fracturing the pelvic bone, leaving her in the pitiful state we now behold her in.

Aside from the risk of loss of limb what she said next chilled Sitoshi to the bone, "I don't want my baby to die too!"

This further complicated her predicament when discovering she was at thirty eight weeks gestation which also called into question the well being of her baby which could have slammed against the inner walls of the uterus creating a sleuth of horrendous possibilities too great to count at the moment.

She wept while grabbing his sleeve, "Please…I'm scared!"

Fortifying his resolve, he looked into her face and said with a tone to more reassure himself than her, "Don't worry, everything is going to be fine."

Suddenly during this moment of triage, a sound broke through the night's air. A sound so sweet and strange; the sound of a woman singing?

Sitoshi withdrew from the back seat while Hiro and Tensin, who had Hideki's hemorrhages controlled and secured to the back board atop the stretcher, looked up to a large crane and saw a peculiar sight.

"Is that…an angel?" inquired Tensin.

"Maybe God does look after us."

Sitoshi then observed, "Look, the monster is walking towards it!"

This was a most welcomed relief for their safety. Sitoshi ran to the unit, withdrew a pelvic binder and traction splint then hurried back. He slid the binder under and around Sakura's loins then synched it tight to keep her pelvis stable and reduce if not stop any internal bleeding. Then as a standard precaution in all trauma patients, applied C-collar to her as well.

He requested further assistance in which Hiro gave his counterpart permission to leave because additional work on Hideki could be performed by one individual.

Tensin came to them with Sitoshi informing, "We need to get the traction splint on her and I need help getting her out too."

They wedged a backboard underneath her as a means to slide her out, then laid her down on the ground. Sitoshi's heart was full of sorrow because any and all manipulations caused the young girl to cry and beg for them to stop.

Tensin then pulled out a flat plastic stick and handed it to her, who asked, "What's this?"

"It's a bite stick."

"For what?"

"We need to pull the leg straight and it's gonna hurt like hell." he said then strapped the ankle harness around the ankle joint.

Quivering, the terrified expectant mother expressed, "No please don't touch it!"

Tensin adjusted himself at her feet, took her ankle in one hand, calf muscle in the other then said, "I'm sorry to do this but it's gotta be done.' then to his partner, 'Sitoshi get ready with that thing." He then leaned back and used all his weight to pull the leg straight.

Sakura's eyes bulged and she shrieked a lament so fierce it astonished Sitoshi that it was a product of human vocals. The rookie quickly girded the traction splint in its proper place, hooked the winch to the ankle harness and began cranking.

With a face as white as marble and sweatier than a dog's tongue in august she covered her mouth and begged with all sincerity and earnest of the soul, "Please Just Cut The Leg Off, Or Just Kill Me!"

He kept cranking allowing the pulley to provide sufficient torque and pulled the two misaligned segments of the broken bone into a straight line, which once it was so, her screaming stopped and relief was near instant.

"Let's get moving." instructed Tensin while strapping her down.

But, as they were about to lift their patient up, a terrible screech above and beyond anything in the natural world attacked their eardrums and screwed itself into their brains. All three crew members grabbed their ears and collapsed in pain. Sakura whose condition was unbearable enough as it was clapped her ears and shrieked while her father, who was barely conscious, had opened his eyes and yelled out.

Then, as soon as it had appeared, the screeching stopped with just enough time for them to see the tendrils of Alucard swell, hemorrhage then pop off his body, crashing to the earth. One of which was set on course to land on top of them but had struck a nearby building, changing its trajectory landing behind them. Protecting themselves from the rubble that followed they looked to see that the severed tendril was now blocking the intersection they used to get on scene.

"What the fuck was that?!" moaned Tensin rubbing his ears and popping his jaw.  
Sitoshi pointed towards the firmament, "I think it was that angel thing."

"Stupid bitch!" he raged.

Hiro was quick to correct, "Whatever she did, she dismantled the giant."

"Maybe a little warning next time!" he murmured.

"Yeah I agree,' concurred Sitoshi, "That hurt…"

"Enough, it's time to go!" ordered their superior.

The father was loaded up first, which sent Mizu crying over his broken state. Sakura was placed on the bench with a blanket on top and secured by Sitoshi's hand. Tensin had Mizu sit up front with him to keep her out of the way of the other two techs as they worked.

Tensin had to find a new path which unfortunately put them on the avenue that led closer to Alucard. The nerves were getting the best of Mizu as each intersection was blocked on either left or right from fallen buildings.

"Why are we getting closer to that thing!?" shrilled the young girl.

"Every road is blocked off, gotta see if there's a clearing somewhere to get it turned around."

"WATCH OUT!"

Overhead the figure clothed in white struck the beast down upon the head causing it to collapse and devastate the vicinity. The ambulance was in the path of the shock waive; Tensin hit the brakes and felt the concussive blast shift the unit backwards on skidding tires. Redirecting the wheel in the direction of the slide, Tensin kept the ambulance upright as it was whipped around.

"I am not paid enough for this shit!" he gnashed silently while pulling a U turn.

Hiro and Sitoshi were recovering from the maneuver, Sakura had nearly flipped over the bench but was caught by her caretaker's hand which in the moment antagonized her injury causing a fit of weeps and gales. Hiro checked on Hideki whose vitals displayed a blood pressure of 104/66, pulse of 132 BPM and O2 saturations of 86% even on oxygen.

His breathing was rapid and shallow with an occasional cough in between. Hiro, opened up his shirt, revealing a horribly discolored thoracic cavity, then used his stethoscope to auscultate his breath sounds. He heard crackles in the lower quadrant of the left lung and diminished breath sounds in the right.

He called up to the driver and informed, "Try to keep her steady I need to hit him with a decompression needle."

"You gotta a tension Pnuemo?" Tensin called back.

Withdrawing the needle from his bag Hiro affirmed the diagnosis, which is known as Tension Pneumothorax, a condition when the lung is punctured and air is escaping and building up within the chest cavity forcing the lung to collapse which most likely attributed to his low saturations. The treatment Hiro was about to perform involved perforating the chest cavity to let the air escape.

He wiped the injection sight with an aneceptic towelette, popped the cap off the needle, angled it directly over the mid clavicular line at the second intercostal space, inserted the needle into the thoracic cavity, withdrew it while its catheter stayed in place and taped it off and could hear the air seeping out.

He was suddenly thrown over his patient and had to catch himself then tossed back and tumbled into Sitoshi who barred them from falling upon Sakura. After that they hit a hard bump that tossed them up and down.

Hiro called up while climbing up to his feet, "What's going on out there!?"

"I'm trying Hiro!' shouted Tensin, 'There's a fucking fight going on between two demons and a giant monster, and there's shit falling from the sky!"

Sitoshi recovered to check up on Sakura who was moaning and crying while yelling pleadingly, "Please God save my baby!,' then directing her attention upon her father she pointed and shouted, "You did this you stupid bastard! We should have left when they told us to, it's all your fault and I hope you die!"

Sitoshi, had a sudden snap in character and took control of her hysteria, grabbed her hand and sternly said, "Hey listen to me! We're here to help you and we're doing everything we can! But you need to stay calm and take deep breaths."

Hiro ignored the commotion and ripped open a packet of electrodes to get Hideki hooked up on the twelve lead cardiogram. Then called to Sitoshi, "Hey can you get him started on an IV?"

Nervously he ripped open the drip set, hooked it up to a bag of saline then attempted to find a good vein in the arm. Tightening the tourniquet he felt once more but the landscape of flesh was flat and devoid of any bouncy bumps.

"I can't find a good vein." he reported with the shame one feels for continuously letting down his superior.

Hiro ran his fingers over then rechecked Hideki's systolic pressure, "Forget it he's 98 over palp, they've probably gone flat."  
"How do we get him fluids?"

"Get an IO going instead." he replied while tossing him the drill and IO needle.

Sitohsi's hands shook but did what was expected of him. Moving up the arm he felt the prominent edge of the humoral head at the shoulder, wiped it clean with an alcohol prep, put the drill in place hit the trigger and sent it spiraling home into the bone marrow.

Sitoshi took a saline flush, attached to the port, aspirated it, then pushed it through to disperse the marrow. After that the saline lock was hooked up with fluid running through the line freely.

"Fluids are up." he informed in which Hiro opened the lock all the way and squeezed the bag for rapid infusion.

Tensin continued to navigate through the war zone of urban fantasy as the creatures of the supernatural realm continued their sparring session. Mizu curled in a ball, clenched the handle into a death grip and trembled.

As chance would have it Tensin found an open intersection…on the other side of Alucard's form. The only way to reach it would be to drive through the battle. He sat and debated with what little time he had.

The girl looked to him and counseled, "Maybe we can find another way around."

He leaned back and called out to the others, "Hold on to your asses."

Mizu sputtered, "You're not actually going to…"

He hit the gas lurching the unit forth and shifting rapidly. Hiro and Sitoshi held on tight while Mizu shrieked and cover her eyes. All the while Tensin was praying rapidly under his breath, "God in heaven I never asked for anything and I never cared, I know I'm not perfect but please in your mercy cut me a break and let this work!"

76 made a few lucky swerves, narrowly dodged past the monster who was stepping and crushing every conceivable area of surface around them. Miraculously the ambulance blew past them unscathed, Tensin pumped his fist and cheered, "You see that shit? Yeah Fuck You! WHOO!"

Mizu on the other hand requested a change of shorts. He looked back and asked, "Hey, we might have a way out, how's things on your end?"

Hiro continued to work and watch the EKG and replied, "Not good, he's in severe shock and his sinus rhythms aren't promising. But we're managing." Sakura was groaning for attention in which Sitoshi came to her side.

"It hurts so bad!" she moaned, "Don't you have pain killers or something?"

Hiro overheard them then said, "I'm sorry, but whatever I give you will go to your baby."

Sitoshi put a pillow under her head then pondered and gave her 6ml of oxygen via nasal cannula.

Hiro commented, "About time you thought of doing that."

"Yeah I think I'm getting the hang of this." he said while taking her blood pressure manually. After a moment he dinted his eyebrows when getting his reading he asked her, "How are you feeling?"

"A little loopy, why?"

"Your numbers are 94 over 72."

"Is that bad?"

"It's lower than normal, and your pregnant which means you should have fifty percent more blood volume."

Hiro chimed in, "A broken pelvis can lead to a lot of internal bleeding, check that binder and keep an eye on her.' then turning to the cab, 'Tensin how's our exit?"

"I think I found a clearing out this way, we should have a straight shot out of Murai from there."

"Ok let us know if anything changes."

As they turned the corner Mizu gasped and covered her mouth, "Oh my…"

Tensin sighed as they drove past the remnants of the military efforts. The broken fuselages of jets and tank hardware were strewn about the road. As the wheels turned to move around the obstacles, Mizu had her eyes glued upon the wreckage in terror. She saw the lifeless bodies of pilots sitting upright in their cockpits. There were a few burning bodies laying face down next to their ruptured tanks, most likely they climbed out to escape but burned to death in the process.

They just got past it when Hiro called up, "Tensin I need your help, Hideki went into a full arrest!"

* * *

Fantasy Vs. Reality

-The crew spent too much time on scene especially if it's that dangerous. The backboards, binders and splints are one thing, but IV's can wait till were loaded and going.

-An ambulance can't maneuver or accelerate that well. Even the van styled ones Japan and Europe uses are big, taller than they are wide and aren't ideal for tight turns and high speeds. They most likely would have tipped over.

-IO's sound painful but I've seen them performed on conscious people and they take it pretty well. Depends on tolerance and technique of the one doing it.


	5. Chapter 4

**READ!: I passed my AEMT hooray, the story is not only finished but revised if you want to re read it. other than that here you go!**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 **Death Comes Ripping**

Hideki's sternum was sinking and rebounding under Hiro's hands who compressed at a rate of one hundred beats per minute. Tensin, having worked many critical calls with the man, automatically began setting up the vent system and would pull from its assembly to administer two rescue breathes every thirty compressions.

Mizu looked back at the horrendous sight of her father being sustained artificially. She had never seen CPR being performed in real life before and for her first time having it be her father was more than she could handle.

"DAD!" she screamed.

Sakura, becoming lethargic yet alarmed, asked Sitoshi, "What's going on…?"

"I…I don't know…" he stammered.

He arose to help until she grabbed his arm weakly. Seeing her pale and ashen face she sickly said, "I…I…think….I'm…dying…."

Her eyelids fluttered shut and she stopped moving. Sitoshi shook and called her name with no response.

He overheard Tensin talking to Hiro, "Let me know when you're going to intubate and we'll make the switch."

Tensin delivered two more breathes then took over compressions as Hiro whipped out a multi lumen airway device, lubed it up and inserted it down Hideki's throat, secured it then hooked it to the bag valve mask and continued artificial ventilations after the next set of thirty compressions.

Sitoshi backed away from his dire patient who lay there lifeless, "Hey guys, I need some help…" he said.

"Not a good time kid." puffed Tensin as he continued to work.

Hiro was able to set the lumen up to the vent circuit so ventilations could be administered automatically, then analyzed the heart rhythm on the monitor.

"He's gone into V-fib, I'll get the fast patches on him and see if we can shock him out of it.

"Hey something's wrong with Sakura…" trembled Sitoshi, 'I don't know what's…"

Tensin, under enormous stress, snapped, "You studied for the job, you wanted the job, you got the job, NOW DO THE FUCKING JOB!"

His body went numb and his mind was going frantic, but suddenly, when left on his own he started to calm and think critically. He was going to re asses and treat all any signs and symptoms in his power.

She was not breathing properly therefore he switched her cannula out for a non rebreather and upped the dosage to 15ml a minute after adjusting her airway. He checked the pulse, the radial was absent but the carotid was quick and thready, her skin pale and clammy.

Perhaps she was bleeding internally from the broken pelvis so he synched the pelvic binder tighter then noticed the traction splint with a suspicion in mind. Lifting the blanket he found the flesh of her inner thigh polluted with hideous blacks and blues.

The bleeding was in the leg, most likely due to the broken femur severing the femoral artery but occluded it at the same time. Then when the traction splint straightened out the bone ends the pressure was taken off and the artery began bleeding freely.

He snatched a tourniquet and applied it as high up the thigh it could go then tightened it with all his strength. As with the loss of blood, he would have to provide fluid therapy fast. This would mean he would have to establish an IV.

He applied a tourniquet to her arm and pulled it tighter than normal for finding a vein, for the loss of fluids make them very difficult to find. Running his fingers across her mid forearm he found a slight bump that rebounded when pressed.

It was as good as any, he took the needle, re checked the vein's location then sent it through. He missed.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead he adjusted and sent it in again, the needle nicked it but the vein rolled. One more time, he pulled traction, steadied the bevel then quickly gave another poke. He got flash back, the needle was in!

Rapidly he advanced the catheter all the way in, retracted the needle then hooked it up to the saline bag and opened it up all the way. He even took the liberty of squeezing the bag to flush the bolus in immediately.

When that bag was depleted he hooked up another one and felt her radial pulse again, it was present. Her eyes began to open and she started looking around.

"Sakura can you hear me?"

She nodded and moaned weakly, "Hmm mm."

Hiro, who finished putting the fast patches on Hideki's thorax and gave him one shock on the automatic defibrillator, called to him, "Sitoshi do you still need help?"

With a warm feeling of pride he said, "No, I'm good."

The proud feelings were cut short when Mizu pointed and screamed, "That thing is back!"

Tensin looked through the windshield while continuing compressions, the battle had knocked Alucard closer to there location which required immediate vacating of their post; however this would mean Hideki's care would be interrupted.

Hiro guided him off and said, "Get us out of here, Sitoshi can help me with this."

Tensin jumped back into the driver's seat and accelerated down the road.

As they were heading down, Alucard hit the ground with such force that it shifted an F-15J fuselage wedged in a building and nearly landed on top of them if not for a quick maneuver of the driver.

Meanwhile Hiro was instructing Sitoshi on their next plan of action, "Alright when I say 'when,' you're going to take over compressions for me, got it?"

"Yeah I can do that."

"Ok, now!" he instructed while letting off allowing Sitoshi to jump in and resume compressions.

Hiro rifled through the far compartment and retrieved the Lucas device and asked, "You ever hooked someone up to this before?"

Sitoshi shook his head in which he responded, "Well you're going to learn."

With rapid instruction they slid the strap under Hideki's back, positioned the piston over his sternum, secured the hands and strapped it around his back. Hiro activated the piston which began compressing the chest on its own.

Hiro analyzed the electrical activity of the heart, it was a fibrillating, disorganized mess of impulses minus the artifacts. He began digging into the drug bag shortly after.

"Oh I'm in pain!" moaned Sakura.

"Hang on, we'll be there soon." reassured Sitoshi.

"It's my stomach, it hurts!"

He then noticed the crotch of her pants becoming wet, her water had broken.

He moved to assist while informing, "You're going into labor."

"B-but the doctor said I wasn't due for another two weeks!"

"It's most likely trauma induced. Your body has been put under too much stress."

Tensin looked back and called to him, "There's no way we're delivering a baby in this ambulance!" then began to accelerate.

Putting his eyes back onto the road he found a section of Alucard's body collapse bringing a group of nearby buildings with him. Tensin banked hard to the right throwing both men in the back to the left and braced against the bulkhead. The tires chirped on the one side as they lifted up but before the unit could topple he straightened out then came to a screeching stop when the dust obscured his vision.

"Tensin can you find us a way out?" asked a recovering Hiro.

Checking the side mirrors he said, "The rear just got blocked and there's nothing on either side."

"What about straight ahead?"

"I'm waiting for the dust to clear and we'll see."

Mizu then began panting, "Wait, are we trapped?"

"We might be." responded Tensin.

"What if we are? What will happen to my Dad and Sister?"

Trying to find the right words he suddenly went white, "Oh…shit…"

Realizing he was responding to what was ahead she froze in fear. Alucard's face was laying right in front of them.

"Hiro turn off the box lights and nobody move."

The whole interior of the ambulance went dark along with the headlights.

The beast was motionless, within the large case of glass found at the crest of its head was the man in black, who seemed to be piloting the creature from there. Everyone in the ambulance was deathly silent save Sakura who inquired, "What's taking so long?"

Sitoshi cupped his hand over his mouth and whispered harshly, "If you're not quiet we'll wind up dead!"

The man in the case was coming to, then as he was looking around, set his deadened gaze right on unit 1076. Tensin's eyes bolted around trying to find a way around but there was none. The monster was alerted to their presence.

The man gave them an evil smile and directed the beast to shuffle and arise.

Tensin put his hands up in a surrendering notion and said near pleadingly, "Please…we're just trying to get home…."

That is when, in this moment of certain doom, a miracle happened. The entire panorama of their respective horizon suddenly became illuminated with a bright light from behind the rig. The sinister being piloting the beast set his attention to it while everyone else turned around and saw a pillar of light shooting forth behind a series of buildings.

"What the hell is going on now…?" muttered Tensin.

"Whatever it is,' commented Mizu, 'I think that thing likes it."

They witnessed the monstrous face of Alucard rise up which, as soon as there was enough clearance, Tesnin bolted through to freedom.

As they passed, Hiro turned his attention back to Hideki whose condition was worsening. For each moment his heart wasn't beating his cells were dying from oxygen deprivation.

Hiro took the epinephrine and filled the syringe, "Tensin we need to get Hideki to the green zone now!" then administered it through the line.

Sakura, still groaning in pain, pled, "Please don't let him die, I didn't mean what I said!"

Hiro remained as calm as one who had been in these situations countless times, "We're doing everything we can for him."

Mizu looked back when hearing the conversation, her lip trembled then turned back and asked of Tensin, "My Dad is going to make it…right?"

He paused, rubbed his lips then replied, "Hey, we have a clean shot to the green zone where we can get your dad and sister the help they need, want to do something for me?"

"Umm sure…"

He pointed to the module adjacent to the center console and said, "You see that button that says master control?'

'Yes.'

'Go ahead and press it, then hit primary flashers."

She did as instructed then looked around to see the nights air and window reflections of passing buildings becoming lit up with the unit's flashing emergency lights.

"Alright now look down the module, you see that dial?'

'Yeah…'

"Switch that over to wail."

She switched it over and the sirens began to signal out loud and clear.

"Good job, we're going lights and sirens now!" he encouraged.

"Yeah that's pretty cool." she commented, faintly relieved.

While the sirens wailed, Hiro made his next intervention, "Ok stay clear, I'm going to try and manually perform a synchronized cardioversion and push more epi as needed. Starting at fifty jules."

He punched in the commands on the monitor then waited, ' _Stand clear of the patient_."

"Sitoshi, you clear?"

He backed away as Hiro waited for the correct complex and pressed shock. Hideki's chest and body flinched in a bolt then went limp again.

No sustainable rhythm could be discerned.

"Alright let's push another round and go for one hundred jules." he said while recalibrating the monitor then flushed through another dosage of epinephrine.

The monitor let out a long whine as it charged then, when the time was right another jolt, twice as great, shot through Hideki's chest.

The ambulance was screaming down the road with ungovernable haste. Sitoshi was trying to keep Sakura in a position of comfort while she claimed her contractions where getting closer to each other. This presented great danger to a mother with a broken pelvis who was about to have a child pass right through it.

"Hang on we're getting close to the green zone I can see it from here!" yelled back Tensin.

Hiro then said, "Ok, we're charging and going for one hundred and fifty jules."

He pushed another dose of Epinephrine and said to himself quietly, "Come on Hideki, you got two daughters and a grandchild on the way, come back to the light."

The ambulance made way into the crowd of people who were astonished to see a pulverized unit rolling through.

Another shock snapped through Hideki's body as before. Hiro watched and waited while Mizu could see a team of emergency personnel running to them. Sitoshi then saw Hiro sigh and pound the countertop lightly then shut the machinery off. The piston came to a stop and the oxygen ceased flowing.

"What's going on?"

Hiro, while withdrawing the multi lumen said, "It's done, he's A systole."

Mizu looked back, "What does that mean?"

Hiro looked at her sorrowfully then said, "It means that your father has died."

"NO!" she shrieked while jumping into the back to assess her father, tears dripped over his bloody face while she cried, "Dad please, I love you, don't go!"

By this point Tensin got out and opened the back of the rig while the relief crew demanded, "What do you have?"

He answered, "We have three patients, the first is trauma 1 and in labor, the other is walking and talking with minimal injuries…and a third died one minute ago."

As they were pulling Sakura out she looked up at Sitoshi and said, "You told me everything was going to be alright…"

He grew frightfully pale, looked upon the grieving girl mourning the loss of her father and at the monitor showing a continual straight line.

Hiro motioned for them to take care of Mizu,

Another crew member jumped in and escorted her out who protested and cried terribly. There was only silence after that.

Another member of the relief party asked, "We have some tents and a doctor on site, do you want to take him there ?"

"I guess it couldn't hurt." said Hiro as he was ripping the EKG and defib patches off.

They slid the stretcher out, dropped the carriage, placed a linen over Hideki's corpse and wheeled him over to the clinic.

Sitoshi, with a heavy heart, began cleaning up the mess in the box. Then, after only a brief period, threw his collection of supplies on the ground, screamed and punched the bulkhead repeatedly.

…

The doctor thus mentioned was examining Hideki's body while recounting the details from Hiro who explained the events leading up to death. The doctor palpated the body's abdomen and remarked the amount of stiffness and discoloration he beheld. For an extra measure he gelled up the torso and put an ultra sound to it. After some searching the doctor pointed out on the feed.

"With all this blood in his abdominal cavity, I'm willing to guess that he also suffered an abdominal aortic aneurysm."

Hiro sighed, "No kidding."

"Yes, my theory is that when his chest hit, it threw his heart forward and strained the great vessels, then as you were working him it tore completely open."

"Not much more could be done with that."

"Too true, it's not uncommon for patients suffering a triple A to die on the operating table. There's only a 2% survival rating, plus with all the other things thrown into the mix, his chances were next to none."  
Hiro removed his gloves and shot them into the trash but said nothing more. The curtain separating the tent from the outside whipped open proceeded by a young man in scrubs, "We need help next door."

"What do you need?" asked the doctor.

"The young girl in labor, we need to do an emergency C-section."

"Alright I'll be there in a minute."

"And hey…?' called out Hiro

Then young nurse stopped.

'Can you get me a body bag please?"

He nodded and left.

Hiro followed the Doctor out and offered, "Do you need help? That young lady was in my ambulance it might help if I'm there because she knows me."

The doctor nodded and smiled, "You're more than welcome to…"

His words were cut short by a series of distant booms and pops sounding off towards Minato Murai. The blinding light was gone and in place was the great monster faltering from what appeared to be two beings with wings punching devastating holes in his body whose radius was so large they blasted the monster into pieces.

Those who were watching cheered and applauded at the sight of the abomination being rent to pieces. Hiro let out a slight gasp of relief, "Thank God it's down."

Before they proceeded through to where Sakura was being treated the doctor looked beyond and replied alarmingly, "Don't thank Him yet…"

His eye reset on the horizon and beheld the remnants of flesh swirling upward and reorganizing into a hideous combination of flesh and bone. The people let out shrieks of hopeless despair and terror at the sight of the ugly blob of tendrils and pulsing tissue while Hiro's eyes softened with that sense to abandon all hope.

The nurse stuck his head out the tent and called, "Doctor?!"  
They turned and rushed in.

* * *

 **Fantasy Vs. Reality**

 **-Not all ambulance companies carry a Lucas device but they sure can be handy.**

 **-Sitoshi should have done fluid therapy the second he found out her systolic blood pressure was under 100.**

 **-If you think Tensin snapping at Sitoshi was harsh and unbelievable, well believe it. Nothing frustrates and pisses an EMT off more than another one who can't do the job when they absolutely need to. Corrections can and have been done then and there on scene in front of patients and it can be that harsh.**

 **One of my friends who was doing his paramedic ride alongs had a basic with him while they were working an ALS call, my friend asked the basic to put the patient on oxygen while he was prepping a drug. He had to ask him again because he wasn't doing what was asked. Finally the proctor, a no nonsense firefighter paramedic said, "Hey dip shit, he said put fucking oxygen on the patient, so put oxygen on the fucking patient!"**

 **-I can't comment much on Hideki's arrest because I haven't gone on an arrest...yet. It's mostly accurate according to the information I've taken from my paramedic buddies who've run these calls. The only inaccuracy is the first shock with the AED. If you're going to shock the patient and your scope of practice allows manual defibrillation, then move to manual.**

 **-Never tell a patient, friend or family that everything is going to be ok. You can't guarantee that so you say that you're doing everything you can and leave it at that. What you say can have a big impact.**

 **-Essentially with Hideki's arrest is he was suffering from two things. One was a cardiac contusion (bruising of the heart muscle) which can cause abnormal electrical activity in the heart such as V-Fib. The other as explained was an aortic aneurism. You have three major vessels connected to the heart; the inferior and superior vena cava which returns blood to the heart, and the aorta which oxygenated blood exits the heart. Think of veins and arteries like roads, some being surface streets, residential and such. They all have different sizes of traffic that move at different speeds. Well the aorta is like your six lane freeway moving at 75mph (110-120kmph). That thing ruptures you're pretty much screwed.**

 **What makes the Aorta much more lethal than the Vena Cava is that it's carrying oxygenated blood to the rest of the body at greater pressure. You're losing blood at a faster rate and your tissues are getting starved of O2.**

 **So with Hideki having both a cardiac contusion causing V-Fib and an aortic aneurism, his chances were next to none.**

 **-On that same note, Hiro would have actually noticed the stomach distention, one it'd be hard to miss the discoloration and two, any medic of forty year tenure would be checking for that considering the significant mechanism of injury in the first place. Basically the blood is spilling out and pooling in the stomach cavity.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **The New Dawn**

While the battle with the newly formed Alucard commenced within Minato Murai, a new battle was underway miles out, the battle to save a mother and child. Sakura was nearly screaming from the pain she was in, which left her face flushed and skin diaphoretic.

The nurses and assistants were laying the surgical tools out on trays while the doctor and Hiro were putting on their sterile gowns and gloves. Sakura could see them getting ready and started crying, "Please don't, not this way!"

The doctor, with sympathy, reassured her, "I know you're scared but don't worry you're in good hands, it'll be over before you know it."

"No…I can't…!"

"I need you to be calm Sakura. Even if we don't do the procedure your body is going to give birth naturally and it's too dangerous."

Sakura clenched her eyes and responded, "No, I mean I can't have this baby! Not today! Not ever!"

Hiro went over to her, "Sakura, it's alright, I know things like this are scary."

"It's not just th-that…' she sobbed, 'Dad always took care of us, a-and n-now he's gone! I-I d-don't know h-how to r-raise my sister and b-baby! N-now they're a-are monsters i-in this w-world!"

He put a hand on her shoulder and said softly, "Ok I want you to listen to me and I want you to listen good. I've been a medic for forty years and a father for about thirty. Do you think I'm a good medic?"

"Y-yeah."

"Do you think I'm a good dad?"

"Probably."

"Do you think when I first started out doing these things, I was good at it?"

Her eyes filled his.

"No, when I started, I was just like you. Young, scared and unsure how to handle a lot of problems. My Dad used to help me when I was taking my basic courses and when I would fail he was there to talk me through it and keep going. He died in a car accident after my first year and I was only twenty. I lost that support and I was living on my own. I got on an ambulance not really knowing how to be a good medic, I got married not knowing how to be a good husband. My wife had a baby one year then twins in the next and I didn't know how to be a good father. But do you want to know something?"

"Uh-Huh." she moped.

"That's okay because I learned how to do it. Day by day I got those aspects of my life figured out, day by day I got better. You're not expected to know how, but I promise you, day by day you will learn how to raise your family."

The doctor finished gearing up, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we need to do this now, she can't wait."

Hiro patted her on the shoulder, "Deep breathes, you can do it."

He returned to the physician, "What can I help you with?"

"We need to give her an epidural, do you think you can roll her on her side without agitating the injury?"

Hiro nodded and with two others went over to Sakura's left side and on the count of three securely rolled her up slightly which got her into a frenzy of agony. The nurse rubbed the Iodine around the the mid back and a needle was inserted locally. Within seconds Sakura's fit subsided and she seemed at peace. Shortly after she was laid supine while the doctor had a scalpel in hand.

The incision was made down the underbelly then additional tissue was cut away with the scalpel. The doctor asked for the light to get shined in by which he stated, "Ok I can see it, let's get the amniotic sac opened."

Sakura tried to see what was happening but had her view restricted. Hiro leaned her back, "Don't worry about it yet."

He peered back to see them pull a small set of feet out through her stomach which led to the guidance of a small, wet infant cradled in their arms. They clamped off the middle section of the umbilical cord and snipped it. But it was then that during the excitement of the procedure, despite the terror of Alucard reigning upon the human world, nothing would instill greater terror. The baby was not crying.

The nurse took the little one in her arms while the surgeon continued with the removal of the after birth. Sakura became worried when hearing the nurses communicating the situation, "I can't get him to breathe!"

Hiro arose and rushed to them with arms extended, "Here give him to me."

They handed the infant off without dispute while Sakura clasped her mouth and wept. Hiro rocked the baby and noticed he was cyanotic. He feared that during the stress the baby took his first breathe within the womb and was now aspirating on the amniotic fluid.

He grabbed a bulb syringe from the OB kit and began syphoning the fluid from his mouth and nose then requested a small suction tube, inserted it all the way through his windpipe and sucked the fluid from his lungs. One of the nurses assisting was constantly rubbing the baby's chest while stating, "I can't feel a heart beat!"

Hiro performed another suctioning cycle then instructed the nurse, "Bag him, I'll start compressions."

She put the tiny little mask over his purple mouth and started pumping the billow while Hiro put his two fingers on his little chest and began pressing at a rate of 100 compressions a minute.

Sakura grew ever more worrisome, "Why can't I hear him crying…?"

…

Meanwhile Tensin was assisting other medical personnel in which ever way he could, for like them, there were others who had just narrowly escaped with their lives. The commotion of the hoarding crowd was focused on the monstrous battle taking place across the way in Mirato Murai. Tensin moved forward, squinted his eyes and got a better look.

Despite the army of Youkai coming out to destroy Alucard, his form still remained and was wreaking havoc among the living. He looked over at the ledge by the waterside to see Sitoshi sitting with his legs dangling over, hands in his lap. He walked over to him yet kept the bulk of his attention on the battle.

From what he could perceive, others had joined in to fight, but for every blow that tarnished Alucard's flesh, a new mold grew and reshaped in its place. It was in theory, a hydra, save it would regenerate any loss of mass. Discouraged by this, Tensin turned around shaking his head and was about to walk away until the observing crowd pointed in shock and awe.

Turning back, Tensin saw a pillar of flesh ejecting upward from the blob and shaped itself into what others would consider a god. A woman, beautiful and fair producing wings as large as the skyscrapers themselves had evolved from the monster.

Tensin's cigarette dropped from his mouth, "What…the….fuck…?

Everything was silent and nearly reverent. Then, just as mystically as her appearance adorned, her exit was equal in spectacle as a beam of light ignited so brightly that even from their distance, they needed to shield their eyes. When it was all over, there was nothing left of the behemoth save tiny light particles dancing through the air like snow.

At a loss for words, Tensin lit up another cigarette, took a few draws and reflected on everything that had happened. The people were joyous, Tensin himself was relieved but noticed that Sitoshi did not share their level of enthusiasm if any at all.

He haunched down next to him and asked, "Aren't you happy?"

Sitoshi was silent. He stared at his feet and nothing more.

"Look, sorry I snapped at you,' commented Tensin, 'it was a crazy situation and that was the time to be self reliant. And for what it's worth, you did a good job."

"I told her everything was going to be Ok." Sitoshi finally said, overcome with self loathing melancholy.

"Say what now?"

Gritting his teeth, Sitoshi clarified, "I told Sakura everything was going to be Ok and it wasn't, her father died!"

Tensin let that settle in, took another draw then said as he puffed out smoke, "It wasn't your fault. I mean, yeah you shouldn't say those things to your patients but Hideki wasn't your patient he was Hiro's."

"That's the point!' blurted the young man, 'He knew everything there was to know, he did everything he could do, and he knows so much more than I do. Me, I can't even think about getting vitals without being told and I nearly let Sakura die because I froze and couldn't think. But Hiro was on top of everything and more! So what difference does it make if you know everything or know nothing, people will still die because of you!"

Tensin listened and pondered then replied, "You think Hideki is dead and his daughter is critical because of us? Who was the one who didn't evacuate when he was supposed to? Who was the one driving the car? Who was the one not wearing a seat belt? Hideki is dead because of Hideki, not us."

Realizing that perhaps his abrasive attitude towards death was less than warranted he gook a deep breath and continued, "Listen, this job is about saving lives, that's true. Have Hiro and I fucked up bad in the past? You bet; but for every fuck up there was an opportunity to learn from it and get better and as a result, more people are alive than dead because of me and Hiro, and that's how you rationalize. But you've also got to realize that despite your best efforts you are going to be acquainted with death, there's no way around it. You are going to do everything you know how to keep that heart beating a little bit longer, and if it stops, it's not because you weren't good enough. Despite all our advances in modern medicine, sometimes fate ultimately has the final say. What I'm saying is, you can do everything right and still lose, it's not because you were weak or stupid, it's life."

There was a long, emotional pause.

"Then I don't know if I should continue doing this." said Sitoshi with self defeat.

"Here is where your greatest struggle will come in, the struggle of whether or not you can put on that uniform and come back to work the next day. Sure you can quit and I sure as hell wouldn't blame you, not after today. But we have just been introduced to something the world has never seen, which means more lives are going to be put at risk which means we need more people like you to try and save humanity in whichever way you can. Look around Sitoshi, these people need you."

He arose and dusted himself off, "I'll leave you alone to think about it."

And with that, he departed and let the young man to wrestle with his thoughts.

…

"Alright we just about have her stitched up,' said the doctor who was running threads to rebind Sakura's incision, "how's the baby?"

"Still working." returned Hiro, who never once at anytime interrupted his resuscitation attempts.

Sakura grew restless when hearing the doctor say, "Alright we need to call in life flight and have her taken to a trauma center."

Panicked she protested, "No I can't leave, not without my baby!"

A nurse laid her down while trying to obtain her cooperation, "We understand but right now our top priority is making sure you get the treatment you need."

"NO you can't make me!" she started to become combative.

They were about to sedate her when they heard Hiro say with excitement, "Hold on!"

They waited while he rubbed the baby's chest, his little arms squirmed and he began crying! All color transitioned from a mottled blue to a vibrant pink. The nurse checked vitals starting by palpating the neonate's brachial artery, "Heart rate is 130 beats per minute and is breathing at a rate of 46!"

Placing him in a diaper and wrapping him up in a blanket she handed him off to Hiro who told the doctor, "APGAR of 10, all signs looking good!"

Taking the sobbing neonate over to Sakura he cooed, "C'mon little one, let's say hi to Mama."

He laid him on his mother's chest who was overcome with bursting emotion. Sakura cuddled her newborn and wept unlike any other. Suddenly in her excitement she started to let down her shirt while asking, "Should I feed him now or later?"

Hiro stopped her, "Hold off on that, you've got some heavy drugs in your system that can get into your milk. I say wait until you can bottle feed him."

"Oh ok,' she said while re concealing her exposed breast, 'but won't that cause nipple confusion?"

"Huh?"

"I mean I've been reading online about nursing, and how to carry and…"

Hiro laughed, "Oh good, you've done your research."

The nurses chuckled as Hiro went to retire, but before he left the doctor stuck out his hand and said, "Thanks for everything you've done."

Hiro took it and replied in that attitude of professional courtesy, "Anytime, take care."

"You got it."

He stepped out of the canopy and into the celestial bounty falling lightly to the earth. He took a deep breath, rubbed his eyes and said to himself, "What a day…"

Walking back the path he came, he looked into the tent housing Hideki's corpse and saw Mizu sitting next to it with her face buried in her hands. Seeing her alone, he went in and kneeled beside her.

"Hey Mizu,' he started softly while putting an arm around her shoulder, 'I just wanted to let you know that your sister gave birth to a healthy baby boy and both of them as of right now are doing well."

She sniffled, "When can I see them?"

"Well right now they're calling in a helicopter to take them to a place where they can get all the help they need. We'll make sure you get there too."

She nodded then hid her face from him.

He then said more sympathetically, "I also want you to know that I did everything I could to save your father."

She let out a gasp and sobbed, "W-what happened?"

"Well we need to do an autopsy to be sure but the doctor performed an ultra sound and he was thinking that when he crashed his heart hit the inside of his chest so hard that it damaged it and ruptured a major blood vessel at the same time."

"Is that serious?" she cried.

"Yes, Mizu, it's very serious, not many people survive those kinds of injuries. But that didn't stop me form doing everything I could to make sure he'd survive."

She leaned in and rested on his shoulder, in which he held onto her hand like a tender guardian and let her cry. There were no words spoken for several minutes.

After that, she recomposed herself and said, "Thank you Mr. Hiro-san."

He nodded, arose and departed.

As he walked out he spotted Tensin who was still smoking. Approaching him he sighed and said, "Mom and baby are doing well so far."

"And the monster is dead." replied Tensin, "God damn miracle if you ask me."

They began walking together, "Where's Sitoshi?"  
"Around somewhere, he was having some trouble coping."

"Is he alright?"

"I'm not sure, doesn't sound like he wants to keep this up, not after all this."

"Can't blame him,' remarked Hiro, 'we've all been there at some point or another."

As they were working their way through the crowd they heard a voice calling after them, "HIRO…! HIRO!"

He turned to see his wife, Nana, running towards him with open arms followed by three younger women. Before he could respond, she hit him with a massive hug while crying over his neck. He returned her embrace while the three women huddled yelling, "DAD!"

"Hey girls, it's alright, I'm alright." he said.

"When we couldn't get a hold of you, we thought the worst!"

"Sorry our radio wasn't transmitting and my phone was broken."

Tensin watched then felt a presence behind him, turned and saw Kimiko standing there, eyes moistened and gleaming. No one would think these two were divorced when Tensin hugged her tightly and said, "Where are the kids?"

"I left them with my parents for the weekend." she hesitantly said.

"What are they doing there?"

"Well I was…going out on a date…"

He said nothing he just kept his arms wrapped around her.

The only thing he could think to say was, "I'm just glad you're ok…"

"Tensin…' she pulled back with confusion, 'what happened out there? You've never hugged me like that, not ever."

Rubbing her shoulders and peering into her eyes he said, "Listen, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry things didn't work out and I just want you and the kids to be happy."

Her lips trembled as she nodded, "Well, you know I was thinking, next time I go out I can always drop them off at your place instead of my parents."

He gripped her tightly, "I'd like that."

Suddenly they heard a voice call from the crowd, "Hey look another ambulance is coming in!"

Hiro and Tensin broke themselves away from their families to find a unit even in worse condition than 1076. The light bar was hanging off by a cord, smoke was coming from the radiator and the drivers side front wheel tire was shredded and riding on the rim.

The thing let out a gasp of steam when it shut off and out came the driver.

Tensin was the first to meet him, "Itzuki, where the fuck have you been?"

Run down and traumatized he said. "You don't want to know,' then looking at 76, asked, 'Where have you been?"

Shrugging he replied, "Same place."

He was running to the back and said, "Can you guys give us a hand with this?"

"Sure, what do you have?"

"I have one thirty six year old male with a massive brain bleed. He's got spinal fluid coming out his ears while slipping in and out of seizures. We're suspecting a subarachnoid hemorrhage."

"And the second one?"

Itzuki shook his head, "You'll just need to see it to believe it."

He then opened the backdoor to see the first patient mentioned laying on the stretcher and the second sitting upright on the bench with his mouth mangled and torn apart looking more like a squid, with a rebar wedged through his oropharynx and out the back of his neck. The patient turned to look at Tensin and appeared alert and oriented.

By some extreme stroke of luck, the foreign body had narrowly missed his cervical spine and major blood vessels in his neck and he still had a patent airway.

"Hey man how are you doing?" asked Tensin in slight shock.

He gave him a thumbs up in response.

Itzuki climbed in and said, "He's A and O times four with a GCS of fifteen."

"No shit…" awed Tensin while he helped unload the stretcher.

They moved their patients towards the medical tents to where the nurses were running around doing their best to treat the injured. As a result of Alucard's defeat, many others including the military where making their way to the green zone with more injured which completely overwhelmed the currently posted medical staff.

One nurse scrambled with a patient who was in essence, dropped in her lap. She asked for help from any other certified personnel who unfortunately were caught up in their own affairs. She put her head in her hands trying to sort out her situation until a young man approached her from behind.

"My name is Sitoshi, what do you need help with?"

And so it was, despite the world having just been torn apart, the efforts to put it back together were underway by those who serve and provide, not for thanks and praise; so that others may live.

* * *

 **Fantasy Vs. Reality and Final Notes**

 **-The APGAR is a test done on newborns to essentially summarize the health of a Newborn. It stands for; Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity and Respiration with each category scored from 0-2. 10 is perfect, the lower the number the more critical the infant and if it's a 0 then it's a bad day to come to work.**

 **-Sakura would most likely need a blood transfusion as well, mainly because, though saline can replenish a loss of fluid volume it does not have the same capacity to deliver oxygen and sugar to the brain and other organs like blood. In other words, too much Saline can water the blood down to the point to where it's inadequate.**

 **-The crisis Sitoshi was going through is very normal. A good amount of EMT's will have that moment to where it's either they figure it out or they quite. A lot of them will have that one call that will make them sit down and think long and hard about what they're doing and if it's right for them.**

 **-With Hiro comforting Mizu, every now and then all a person needs is a hug or someone to just be there. Emotional care can be just as important as medical.**

 **-A and O stands for Alert and Oriented. Times 4 means the patient is aware of person, place, time and thing (what's your name? what year is it? etc.) So A and O times 4 means they now all four of these things.**

 **-The GSC stands for the Glascow Coma Scale. It's a test done to score the patient's mental status. 15 being the highest, 3 being the lowest. It's broken down into 3** **categories; Eyes, Speech, movement. Are their eyes open spontaneously, or do they wander? Do they speak coherently, or do they moan or slur? Can they adequately point and move their body, or do they shift and move without purpose? There's more to it but that score helps understand the severity of the call.**

 **-The rebar through the guy's mouth was based on a real story that my instructor took. It was a construction worker who fell off the roof and landed his mouth right through the rebar and somehow missed the spine and blood vessels. His mouth was intact.**

 **-A subarachnoid Hemorrhage is when the blood vessels between the outer layers of the brain rupture. It's a type of stroke and is very dangerous. The seizures were a result of blood buildup pushing on and irritating the brain. If it's trauma induced you can be having more issues, like brain damage as well.**

 **-One thing I did for some fan service is the name of the ambulance was 1076. That number is the numerical birth month and year of Rosario's creator** **Akihisa Ikeda who was born October of 1976.**

 **-I know you guys were hoping to have a Tsukune and Moka cameo, which I did try to do, but it didn't work out. It either messed up the continuity of the actual fight, or would have made the ambulance side story a bit more unbelievable. However there is the tale of Itzuki and his crew so maybe there'll be a sequel involving them.**

 **-Another story I had in mind was a police officer living in Nagasaki named, Masayoshi, who's out on patrol when Alucard's eggs hatch and wreak havoc on the city.**

 **-I hope some of you enjoyed the story. Please support your local EMS by driving fast and taking chances. Make stupid decisions that start with 'hold my beer!'And always remember to consider yourself invincible. Because without that way of thinking we don't have jobs! (I'm kidding please be safe and remember we don't have a bandaid for everything)**


End file.
